4 Reasons To Dump Movie Moguls
Corrupt. Oppressive. Monopolistic. And the dreaded C-word: Criminal.
These are some of the latest adjectives thrown at Malayalam cinema, one of India’s most creative film industries even during peak pandemic. For close to five years, a young woman actor has been fighting a legal battle against an industry veteran, a Malayalam superstar, on charges of ordering a hit to abduct and sexually assault her on camera.
The case is now in the trial phase and is expected to favour the accused actor-producer Dileep, allegedly due to his money and muscle power over every aspect of filmmaking in Kerala, home to Malayalam cinema. Very filmy and very Weinstein-esque.
Almost all film industries have such horror stories due to the closed and opaque nature of film production that favour the few at the top. However, this time there is strong push-back like in the Harvey Weinstein #MeToo case. Women are yet again at the forefront — in a first, the young actor immediately filed a police complaint and has since been supported by a small but vocal cohort of women in cinema (in pic: Women in Cinema Collective).
Their efforts are two-pronged — justice for the attacked actor and to lobby the government to overhaul the discriminatory working conditions for women in Malayalam cinema. What if a D-word can speed this up and upend the oppressive structure that led witnesses to switch sides in the assault case?
Imagine a Decentralized Autonomous Organization or DAO that will bring together actors, technicians, fans and investors to fund and back projects that they love. An organisation helmed by creators who could democratically decide on all aspects of film-making, including whom to have on board and how much they should get paid using smart contracts written onto the blockchain.
DAOs are software-enabled organizations. They allow people to pool resources toward a common goal and share in value creation. Just as LLC (limited liability corporation) was the preferred organizing format of the industrial revolution, DAOs can be the same for Web3. Where corporations are rooted in legacy financial system and organized through legal contracts, DAOs run on top of open blockchain networks like Ethereum, organized by tokens with their rules encoded in smart contracts (Source: Coinbase.com)
It could potentially look like a rival platform to YouTube on blockchain, says The Economist. Users are awarded various tokens. And “those (tokens) act as compensation for uploading videos, and can be scaled to reflect how popular uploads are, to attract content creators.” There could also be governance tokens that determine how the platform is run. Early adopters gain if the projects they back do well. Read more.
Sounds unrealistic and techno-utopian? Not to those people who are already at work. Mogul Productions, an NFT platform with decentralised film financing options, has funded a movie called Bonded (in pic) at script level by users with tokens. It is in post-production now. Many filmmakers are experimenting with formats on how to set up DAOs — writer of this 5-part series on DAO-fied movie making is thorough.
The recently launched BlockbusterDAO wants to buy the defunct movie rental company Blockbuster (busted by the arrival of Netflix & others) and turn it into a decentralized film studio and streaming platform. More film DAOs and innovative DeFiFis are in the offing. There are a slew of movie NFT projects that are partly or fully crowdfunded or released exclusively as NFTs, including an upcoming Anthony Hopkins starrer. Listen to independent filmmaker Trevor Hawkins to understand how he and his team worked to make their film Lotawana the first feature to be released and sold as an NFT in March 2021.
The stage is set and the Indian scene is promising considering that it is one of the largest industries in the world in terms of quantity of output (more than 1,500 films in 20 languages). Several Indian artists have cashed in on the NFT craze with memorabilia. And the first Indian film to have NFT memorabilia is Malayalam flick Kurup (in pic).
However, when it comes to structural changes, Indian film industry remains monopolistic, exploitative and misogynistic, whether it is Hindi (Bollywood), Telugu, Tamil or Bhojpuri.
Take the actress assault case, which has two parts to it. First, a team of professionals headed by a grandiosely named ‘Pulsar’ Suni, abduct and sexually assault the artist in a moving car. Then, he and his associate/s record the crime to create shareable video clips that could be used to control her in perpetuity.
It is the second part of the crime that gives pause to the thought that Suni, whose silly moniker comes from a popular motorbike brand, might not be the mastermind behind the crime. That’s how the actress and her well-wishers also understood the crime. The police eventually arrested Dileep as Suni’s statement and other evidence indicated that he had a strong personal motive — the survivor related his extra-marital peccadilloes to his first wife, a rare female star.
When Dileep was first arrested, it seemed like the ageing star had a bad case of petty vindictiveness and monumental God complex. As the seemingly watertight case crumbled even before it reached trial, all those whispered allegations about him being a vengeful manipulator of people and projects gained more traction. Witnesses switched sides or changed statements while the accused and family appeared on glossy family magazine covers and gave soulful interviews. The police have now filed a criminal conspiracy case against Dileep in what is widely seen as a last-ditch effort.
The verdict seems to be a foregone conclusion but my Cliff Notes are filled with several strands pointing towards criminalization of the industry:
- The young actor and her actor-friend and Dileep’s ex-wife talk about criminal conspiracy behind the crime 5 years ago. ‘Pulsar’ Suni (of all the people) allege in a conveniently leaked letter that the accused is close to a ‘sex racket’. A few days ago, actor Parvathy, a member of the women collective, says that sex rackets are indeed possible and hints at being propositioned
- SOP: Overt and covert threats by individuals and industry organizations they helm; financial incentives for those who comply and lack of work for those who don’t. In a rare instance, actor Parvathy talks about the culture of intimidation & threats to life in this interview in Malayalam
- One of the most effective criminal endeavours seems to be sex trafficking of women actors & other female professionals. It goes beyond casting couch scenarios with one or more rackets facilitated by industry insiders
- Malayalam film industry, one of the most inventive and critically acclaimed regional industries of India, is criminalized to a great extent
- Missing in Action: A judicial committee set up in the aftermath of the assault case and its report filled with grievances and harassment complaints by women of the industry (More here)
There is nothing new in these readings. The only firsts belong to the actor. This is probably the first time that an Indian woman actor dared to approach the police with sexual assault allegations, a few months before #MeToo rocked Hollywood in 2017. After years of silence, steady work and court appearances, she did something unexpected again a week ago. She outed herself with a graceful statement detailing her angst, gratitude and resolve to continue the fight in public.
Now, this is a momentous drop. It is only fitting that her colleagues follow it up with some solid support and well-thought out plans to decentralize. Slay like the Queen.
References
- History of DAOs: https://banklessdao.substack.com/p/history-of-daos-state-of-the-dao
- Vitalik Buterin, 2014: https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/05/06/daos-dacs-das-and-more-an-incomplete-terminology-guide/
- Types of DAOs: https://blog.coinbase.com/daos-social-networks-that-can-rewire-the-world-128b73732547
(CryptoChronicles: A Column On All things Crypto & Web3)
I am a journalist-writer, content marketer & Crypto enthusiast. A perennial lurker at the intersection of technology & culture: My Work. Recently took a deep dive into Crypto, NFT & Web3. Like the article? Share & let me know in comments below. Connect with me on LinkedIn & Twitter.
